ばかり details
write + (and…) + nothing but
kaite bakariiru
nothing but; only ever
meaning: do nothing but write
弟は休みの日、ゲームばっかりしてる。
otouto wa yasumi no hi, geemu bakkari shiteru.
On his days off my little brother does nothing but game. casual
彼は会議で文句を言ってばかりいる。
kare wa kaigi de monku o itte bakariiru.
In meetings, he does nothing but complain. neutral
- colloquial
- colloquial
- past
- polite
Examples
nothing but N — one thing dominates where variety is expected
弟は休みの日、ゲームばっかりしてる。
otouto wa yasumi no hi, geemu bakkari shiteru.
On his days off my little brother does nothing but game. casual
この店は、お客さんが学生ばかりです。
kono mise wa, okyakusan ga gakusei bakari desu.
The customers at this place are all students. neutral
do nothing but V — てばかりいる, a habit crowding out everything else
彼は会議で文句を言ってばかりいる。
kare wa kaigi de monku o ittebakariiru.
In meetings, he does nothing but complain. neutral
入社当時は、先輩に頼ってばかりいて、お恥ずかしい限りです。
nyuusha touji wa, senpai ni tayotte bakari ite, o hazukashii kagiri desu.
When I first joined the company I am embarrassed to say I did nothing but lean on my seniors. formal
Formation
{N}ばかりattaches to noun{V-te}ばかりいるattaches to て-form
Variant notes
- ばっかり — everyday spoken strengthening — ゲームばっかり！
- ばっか — clipped speech, youth-flavored — 嘘ばっか。
Notes
Related patterns
Similar
Both translate "only", but だけ marks an exhaustive limit — nothing else in the set — while ばかり marks lopsided repetition that tolerates exceptions; パンだけ食べた closes the list, パンばかり食べている scolds a habit.
Both follow a numeral to mean "about" (十分ばかり／十分くらい), but the ばかり approximation now reads dated and bookish while くらい is the living default — 二日ばかり in modern speech signals deliberate old-fashionedness.
Opposite polarity hosts for a near-identical surface meaning — しか is ungrammatical without a negative predicate, ばかり needs a positive one; 野菜しか食べない states a restriction, 野菜ばかり食べている criticizes a skew.
Both fault excess, but すぎる says one instance went past the proper degree (飲みすぎた — that night, too much) while てばかりいる says the act recurs to the exclusion of everything else (飲んでばかりいる) — degree versus frequency.
Lookalikes
Same ばかり, different attachment and meaning — てばかりいる after the te-form reports habitual excess with disapproval, たばかり after the plain past marks bare recency (着いたばかり) and passes no judgment.